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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467031">S2 E6 Reflections</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanara1/pseuds/Sanara1'>Sanara1</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steven Universe (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Grooming</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 08:17:10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,005</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22467031</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanara1/pseuds/Sanara1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I was sort of at a loss on how the show ended S2E6 without discussing Pearl's actions and influences on Connie. She basically groomed Connie into being a partner for Steven, and while that never got addressed, I wrote a small scene for it to (hopefully) shed some of those feelings.</p><p>(Completed work)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>S2 E6 Reflections</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The night had only just descended upon them when things had begun getting back to normal. Pearl was to walk her home from their fighting practice, and Steven was going to stay home in case Garnet and Amethyst sprang up with a mission. It had been a tough day- straining not only her abilities, but Pearl's motives.<br/>
Neither of them spoke much as they headed to the bus stop. It would take them as far as two blocks away from her home, where she could walk right up to the door and start getting ready to finish her homework for the next day. Just in time to get 7 and a half hours of sleep. Just in time to wake up and begin her morning routine. Just in time to…<br/>
She paused where she stood. They were a few breaths away from the bus stop sign, and only about a minute to spare before the bus came to collect them. It was only herself and Pearl, who hadn’t provided any commentary on their earlier moments. Maybe Pearl thought it was all okay now that she was the error of her ways? But she still felt icky inside. There was a mass of sickness dwelling that she usually felt when her mom added a new activity to her roster if she thought she had too much ‘down time.’<br/>
She looked to Pearl, who was already awkwardly looking away and she groaned externally for the first time.<br/>
“Pearl,” she breathed, trying to sound more confident than she felt, although she knew her face didn’t quite match.<br/>
“Yes Connie?” Pearl's voice was awash in false positivity. Something that was suppose to tell her ‘everything is fine. It will all go back to normal'.<br/>
But it couldn’t. Not until they talked about it. “Pearl, what you did to me kind of freaked me out…”<br/>
The pregant pause at the end of the statement left room for Pearl to speak, but she didn’t. Instead, Connie began yet again, voicing the turmoil in her own mind. “I feel like you groomed me, Pearl. Groomed me into Stevens object instead of just a good fighter. I feel… I feel used, and unimportant anyone. This feels gross, and stupid.”<br/>
She took a breath, trying to steady her thoughts and words. “I feel stupid.” The statement was pitiful sounding. The words of a child. But… she was a child. A child who had looked up to Pearl and trusted her to protect and guide her through her studies as a sword fighter.<br/>
And she said as much.<br/>
“You, Pearl. You turned me into someone- no, something that that only lived to serve Steven. As much as I like him, and want to help protect him, I feel like I should have kept value in myself. I don’t feel that value anymore. I… I feel like everything I should be doing should be to aid Steven instead of helping myself. I don’t see value in my school anymore. I don’t enjoy my violin lessons like I use to. All I feel like I should be doing is getting ready for this- what? This Gem war? This inevitable fight that could wreck my home? How… how do you just come back from learning about that kind of stuff?”<br/>
Pearl stood, hopefully listening to what Connie had to say. She made no indication of having heard her, at least not for a while. Even as the bus rolled up, Pearl paid for their passage with a handful of change, and they took their seats, no words were said. She began to feel sick… was she out of line? Was Pearl going to decide she wasn’t to see Steven anymore because she wouldn’t give herself whole over to him?<br/>
Her fingers began to fidget with the hem of her shirt and tug at the loosened seam, and her eyes watched the town move along beside them. Only a few minutes had passed with their little walk to the bus station, but now it felt like hours. Without looking down at her shirt, she unthreaded a quarter of an inch of hemming before Pearl let out a strained sigh.<br/>
“Connie, I am so sorry. Truly. I never wanted you to feel like you were only here to protect Steven, or that we didn’t value you as a member of our team.” Pearl looked to her with a measured eye- one that held respect and sorrow all rolled into one. “You have become a welcome sight around the house, and a valued friend to all of us- not just to Steven. And I…”<br/>
Pearl trailed off and squeezed her eyes shut just as a swell of tears were beginning to form. “I was never able to separate my feelings of duty, and of love with my abilities. Everything I did I did for her. Everything I was I gave to her cause. I loved Rose, Connie, and what I was doing wasn’t healthy for me, and it certainly wasn’t healthy to expect the same for you.”<br/>
Pearl looked down to her hands, which Connie now knew was only a projection of light. A projection given a mass and form due to the kind of beings the gems were. But that didn’t make her any less real- even in that moment. “I never wanted you to feel this way. You are one of the strongest humans I know, and someone I would never want to make feel like you were less than capable.”<br/>
Pearl looked back to Connie, who had tears of her own threatening to spill. But she kept herself together. “I don’t want to only fight for Steven,” she said, her voice determined and challenging. “I want to fight for myself, and everyone else I care about.”<br/>
“Yes Ma'am,” Pearl said, and Connie saw a small smile forming on Pearl's face. And so, as they pulled to a stop at the correct bus stop, the two got off the bus together with a better understanding of the days events.</p>
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